How do we keep our core leadership team highly motivated and focused on hitting our five-year exit goals without prematurely revealing that we plan to sell the company and causing them to look for more stable jobs?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Telling your leadership team too early that you plan to sell can trigger panic, causing your best people to quietly look for safer jobs. However, keeping them completely in the dark can destroy trust. The solution is to align their personal incentives with the enterprise value of the business without explicitly announcing an imminent sale. Use the V/TO® to set long-term growth targets that naturally require a highly professional organization. Frame the operational improvements you are making, such as building out the Accountability Chart and documenting core processes, as initiatives to scale the business and create new leadership opportunities for them. To secure their long-term commitment, implement a structured incentive plan like phantom equity or a synthetic equity program. These structures align their financial reward directly with the growth of the business valuation. If you execute this correctly, they will work tirelessly to build a highly valuable company because they benefit directly from the outcome. This approach builds deep trust because you are aligning your goals with theirs, rather than focusing purely on your own exit. You are demonstrating low self-orientation, which is the foundational element of any trusted relationship.